The Orphaned Mousebabe
by WildlifeWarrioress
Summary: A baby mouse is left to fend on his own after his parents are captured by Kotir soldiers. Meanwhile, a female hedgehog hears a bunch of commotion as she takes a stroll through Mossflower Woods. Will the little mouse be found and rescued by the hedgehog, or will he succumb to the elements of nature and die? Sorry, I am not very good at summaries.
1. Orphaned

**Everything related to Redwall is copywrited by Brian Jacques! In addition to that, all OC's are copywrited by me!**

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It was a beautiful Spring day in Mossflower Woods. Two wood mice strolled through the forest as the sun shone down on it. The one mouse, a female, was carrying her four offspring. None of the four mousebabes would stay still; they tried to climb all over the mother mouse as she attempted to calm and restrain them.

The other mouse, a male, laughed. "They're proving to be too much to handle, aren't they? Haha!"

The female mouse sat down on a rock. The mousebabes continued to climb all over her - then decided to explore their surroundings. "Yeah, they are. The little sillies," she sighed. "But I love them."

"I do too, my dear." The male mouse kissed his mate on the cheek.

One of the mousebabes was starting to wander off too far. The male mouse retrieved her. "No, you don't go wandering off like that, tis not safe." He gave his daughter to his mate.

Another one of the mousebabes was rummaging through his mother's stuff. He grabbed something and ran off with it.

The father mouse went after the mousebabe and caught him. "Oh, no no no! How many times do I have to tell you, no stealing."

The mother mouse giggled. "Heeheehee, what a little thief!"

The male mouse gave the stolen item back to his mate. "Yeah, remember when he and the others were first born?"

"Yes, I do." She retrieved her son from her mate. "The others just fell right asleep after they were born, but oh no, not this one! He decided to take whatever he could get his paws on."

"The others certainly weren't too happy about it as he climbed over them!"

The female mouse giggled at the memory. "Yeah, I remember that; the poor darlings!"

The male mouse stroked his son on the head. "You were quite the little troublemaker when you were born, you silly little thief."

"Which is why we named him what we did," the female mouse mentioned.

"Yes, exactly. But I sure hope he doesn't grow up to be a thief."

"Same here-"

"He better not grow up into a thief! If he does then he won't live very long!" a polecat ferret stated as he approached the mice. He was followed by two stoats and a common weasel. They were all dressed in Kotir armour.

The male mouse was on his guard. "What do you want?"

"We're just following out our orders of capturing the last of the rebels - and as I recall, you two were two of them!" The ferret grabbed the male mouse, while the stoats got a hold of the female. The mousebabes she were holding ran off to their two sisters. They all sat where they were and just watched, unaware of the danger and curious about what was going on.

"You two are arrested for rebelling against King Verdauga and Kotir!" one of the stoats announced.

"No! You won't take us!" the male mouse tried to resist against the ferret, but his captor was too big and strong.

"My babies! What about my babies?! They'll die without me! Please, spare us, for the children!" the female mouse begged.

The weasel grabbed one of the mousebabes, then took his knife out of his belt. "The young ones, ay? I've got an easy solution to that!" He slit the throat of the mousebabe.

"NO!" the female mouse cried. "NO! PLEASE DON'T KILL THEM!" She fought as hard as she could against the stoats so she could save her babies, but they refused to let in.

The other mousebabes realized that they had to get away, and attempted to flee. But one by one the weasel caught them, and as he did so he slit their throats - as both parent mice screamed at the top of their lungs for him to stop.

When the weasel caught the last mousebabe, he decided to taunt the parents. "Oh, look, if it isn't the little thief you twos were a-talking about! Well, guess what?! The Kotir penalty for stealing is death! Hahaha!"

The mousebabe cried as the weasel held the knife up against his throat. Both mice struggled against their captors to rescue their last offspring.

The female mouse got lucky. As she struggled, she kicked one stoat in the groin and stomped on the other stoat's footpaw. The two soldiers released her as they attended to their wounds. She rushed towards the weasel, and just as he was about to slit the mousebabe's throat she bit his tail as hard as she could. The weasel yowled in pain as he dropped his captive and his knife.

The mousebabe galloped off as fast as he could, though his young legs gave him a very unstable gait. The weasel watched him as the other two soldiers recaptured the female. "You guys take those two mice to Kotir and lock them up! I'll be back in a bit!" The weasel pursued the mousebabe as the other soldiers took the parent mice to prison.

Once he realized that he was being chased, the mousebabe jumped into a bush. Luckily for him the weasel did not notice, though the soldier knew that the little rodent was in the general area. The mustelid started to search in the bushes and behind the rocks. "Come on, little fellow, I'm not gonna hurt you," the weasel said. "I'm just gonna spare you from starving to death."

To the weasel's surprise, the mousebabe was not fooled by his semi-gentle tone of voice. The soldier grew more stern. "If you don't show yourself right now then I will beat you before I kill you!"

The mousebabe was tempted to cry, but due to fear he remained quiet as he continued to hide in the bush.

The weasel was about to lose his temper. "If you grow up to be a thief then you're gonna die at the hands of Kotir at some point in one way or another! So I suggest that we get this done now so that you will suffer the least!"

The weasel got lucky. As he searched through one of the bushes, he found the mousebabe. The mousebabe made no attempt to flee; he froze in fear. The weasel grabbed him. The mousebabe cried as the soldier grabbed his knife, which drew blood as it was pressed against his throat. The mousebabe cried more than ever.

The weasel's grisly work was interrupted by a screech. The soldier dropped his captive as he pointed his knife upwards, ready to defend himself from whatever the aerial threat was.

A huge golden eagle soared above the forest. Upon spotting the bird of prey, the weasel ran off. The mousebabe looked up in curiosity but the sight of the flying beast scared him, and he jumped back into the bush. He came out once the eagle was gone, and laid in the middle of the woods.

The confused and scared mousebabe cried, hoping that somebeast would come to his rescue.

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**If anyone has anything to say about the mousewife's litter size and/or my justifications for it, then would you please read the explanation that I provide on my profile bio before commenting? I don't want to have to continuously explain this and I'm kinda getting annoyed on how everybody is focusing on the litter size stuff and not the story itself. Thanks!**

**Red Velvet Fox: Don't worry, your constructive criticism is not discouraging me from writing this story; I actually appreciate it as it helps me make my stories better! I fixed the grammatical errors, thanks for pointing them out! The focus of this story is the adoption of baby Gonff by Goody, which is why I did not go into much detail over his parents. I added more offspring not to make the scene sadder, but rather because of mouse biology: a female Wood Mouse's litter varies between 2 and 9 offspring. I see your point about how the female mouse should of escaped before 5 youngsters were killed, though, and for that reason I reduced the number of offspring to 4. Oh yes, and the reason why the weasel does not give up on his act is because...well...lets just say that he's not the smartest of Kotir soldiers. I hope this helped to clarify things a bit!**


	2. Rescued

Meanwhile, a female western European hedgehog was taking a walk through Mossflower Woods. She smelled at a newly blooming primrose flower and sighed from relaxation. Spring was always her favorite season of the year and she just wanted to enjoy the new life of the forest.

Out of the corner of her eye, the hedgehog spotted a European red fox and her pups, which were only weeks old. The pups were playing outside the den as the vixen kept a watchful eye on her offspring.

The hedgehog smiled. She wished that she had her own young ones to care for. She mentally reminded herself that she would have to talk to her husband about having children sometime soon.

All of a sudden a shout could be heard in the woodlands. The vixen rushed her pups back into their den. The hedgehog looked around as she tried to locate the direction that the scream came from. She could not make out the words, as it came from far away. Nonetheless, she was worried. Her guess was that it came from somewhere near Kotir, so she headed off west.

After about an hour the hedgehog arrived at Kotir. She stopped in her tracks. Soldiers were all around the castle. She knew that if they spotted her, she was a goner.

Luckily for the hedgehog, there were a bunch of bushes surrounding Kotir. She used them to her advantage. As she investigated around the castle, she would rush from bush to bush, peeking out the bush to surround the nearby area for any signs of trouble before running to the next.

To her surprise, there was no sign of trouble at Kotir. The hedgehog turned around and ran back into the woods, happy to be away from that most dreaded of places.

"Hey Mrs. Stickle!"

The hedgehog jumped from fright, jerking her head back and forth to spot whoever spoke to her. She saw a Scottish wildcat. The hedgehog looked up in fear at the young wildcat as he approached her. "Gingivere Greeneyes!" she gasped when she identified him. "Please don't kill me-"

Gingivere sat where he was and threw up his paws in peace. "Don't worry Goody, I would never kill you! I'm not cruel like my father and sister are! So what are you doing over here anyway? It's dangerous, the guards would kill you if they even so much as saw one spine!"

Goody Stickle explained. "I was walking through the woods when suddenly I heard this scream. I'm afraid that somebeast is hurt and I want to help them. I thought that maybe it came from somewhere over here, so I came to investigate."

"Good guess," the wildcat chuckled. "My sister Tsarmina enjoys nothing more than causing suffering to others. But, that shout, it did not come from over here. I heard it too: it sounded like it came from about two hours north of Kotir."

"Oh, thank you very much for the information, Mr. Gingivere."

"You're welcome! Good luck!" Gingivere waved to Goody as she left. She traveled north as he suggested.

Gingivere's guess was accurate. After traveling for about two hours, the hedgehog came across a disturbing sight.

Three mousebabes laid on the ground, all dead and with bloody throats. Goody gasped as she approached them. "Oh, you poor babies! You poor little things!" The hedgehog wiped tears from her eyes. _Who can do such a horrible thing to these sweet little mousebabes?_ she wondered to herself.

Goody noticed that there were signs of struggle around the three mousebabes. The footprints of mice and mustelids could be seen on the ground. _This must be the work of those cruel Kotir soldiers!_ the hedgehog thought. _I wonder what happened to those poor babes' parents?_

It was then that she heard the crying of a baby from the distance. Goody instinctively followed the sound. After about thirty minutes, the hedgehog came across another interesting sight. She placed her paw on her heart. "My goodness, it's a baby mouse! Hello little guy!"

The mousebabe scrambled backwards as the hedgehog approached him. She tried to comfort him. "Relax, little one, I'm not gonna hurt you." She got a hold of him as he jumped to flee.

The mousebabe scratched and kicked at Goody in a desperate attempt to escape, unaware of her good intentions. Despite this, the hedgehog placed him against her chest and covered him with her apron."You're a feisty little fellow, aren't you?"

The comfort of the apron and the hedgehog's soft-furred arms calmed the mousebabe and he stopped struggling. He looked up at Goody, his face an expression that clearly stated 'please help me.' That was when Goody noticed the bloodied scar on the mousebabe's throat. "Oh, you poor little baby!" She gently felt the wound with her paw. The mousebabe cried. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You poor babe, that must be painful! There, there, everything's gonna be all right. I'm going to take care of you."

The hedgehog's gentle voice was soothing. The mousebabe rested his head against the hedgehog's soft-furred chest and fell asleep. Goody carried him back to her home.

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**Red Velvet Fox: I understand your point, but as a future biologist myself I personally cannot get myself to mess around with biology. This also explains why I get so picky on specifying the exact species (and subspecies) of the characters; I am just so fascinated with taxonomy that I can't just say "mouse" or "hedgehog" anymore when introducing a character. I certainly see your point about the overly brave Goody and the careless soldiers being unrealistic, so I changed up the scene a bit. As for the fox being a woodlander, I hope that everything I explained in my profile page clarifies things a bit!**


	3. Adopted

"Hey Goody, where have you been?" Goody's husband Ben greeted as his mate came into their little cabin.

"You will not believe what I have found," Goody replied.

The male hedgehog walked up to his wife. "What is it?"

Goody moved her apron to expose the mousebabe. "I found him on the forest floor, all alone and scared. His siblings were killed by Kotir soldiers, and I would not be surprised if his parents were too."

"Aww, the poor little thing. What should we do to help him?"

"I think we should raise him as our own."

"But what if his parents are still alive? We certainly don't want to keep him from them."

Goody nodded. "True."

Ben patted the mousebabe's head. "Hello. You're a cute little guy."

The mousebabe tried to burrow into the apron, but Goody stopped him. "It's all right, Ben won't hurt you."

The mousebabe peeked up at Ben. The hedgehog continued to pet him when he spotted the scar on the mousebabe's neck. "Oh my!"

"I know, he's hurt, the poor little tyke."

"We should tell Bella about this. She'd know what to do."

Goody nodded. "Yes, we should."

The two hedgehogs left their home. As they made their way to Brockhall, they spotted a group of woodlanders heading west. They were all armed.

Goody held the mousebabe against her chest, not wanting him to see any of the weapons the other creatures had. Ben approached the group. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Another rescue mission," one of the woodlanders, a Eurasian otter, answered. "Two mice were just captured by Kotir soldiers, so Bella sent us out to rescue them."

"How wonderful," Goody stated. "Do let us know if you are successful; we have what I think is their baby."

The otter bowed. "That, we will do, Mrs. Goody. Wait, you have their baby? Well then, that makes this mission all the more urgent then, matey! We must reunite those parents with their kid if we can!"

Goody nodded. "Yes, we must."

"Good luck to you all!" Ben waved as the woodlanders continued on their way to Kotir. He and Goody continued walking to Brockhall.

Bella the Eurasian badger noticed the two hedgehogs arrive. "Hello, Goody, hello Ben. What brings you two here on this fine day?"

Goody explained everything. When she had finished, Bella placed her huge paws over her mouth. "Oh my goodness, the poor baby! Is he okay?"

Ben nodded. "Yes. You want to see him?"

"Sure." The badger looked at the mousebabe wrapped up in Goody's apron. "Aww, he's precious!"

Upon seeing the large beast, the mousebabe squeaked in fright and hid. Bella tried to comfort him. "Aww, no need to be scared of me. I'm not gonna harm you."

Goody addressed Bella. "I'm sorry, he's very timid."

The badger nodded her understanding. "I can tell, and I can't blame him. So you say you found his deceased sisters just lying about in the forest?"

"Yes," Goody responded.

"But his parents were nowhere to be seen?"

"Right."

"Poor thing. Two mice were captured by Kotir soldiers recently; in fact I just sent out a rescue team to save them, actually. I wonder if they were his parents."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were," Ben stated.

"Well, hopefully we-"

At that moment, the group of rescuer woodlanders entered Brockhall. Many of them were injured and immediately went to tending their wounds. The otter leader hung his head in shame. "I'm so sorry, Bella."

"Sorry about what?" Bella asked.

"We were not able to save those mice. It...it was as if those Kotir soldiers were expecting us to come, they were all up in arms when we got there. It was a massacre, half of our team was killed!"

"I'm so sorry to hear that. May those brave creatures rest in peace. Geez, that's the tenth unsuccessful rescue mission just within the past four days," the badger sighed. "Verdauga must know that we are trying to save the prisoners."

"He sure does, or at least somebeast there does. Perhaps Tsarmina or Ashleg knows. Regardless, we saw the mice, though."

"You did? How are they?"

"Near dead when I saw them. They're probably rotting away in the dungeons as we speak, the unfortunate mice."

"Terrible," Bella sighed. "Well, you guys go and rest now. You did the best you could."

"Thank you, Bella." The otter and the other woodlanders left to rest after their failed mission.

"What about the babe?" Goody asked.

The badger shook her head. "Well, there's no hope of reuniting him with his parents now, sadly. That poor babe, having to grow up without his parents."

"I was thinking that Ben and I could raise him," Goody mentioned. "What do you think?"

Bella lightened up a bit. "That's a wonderful idea, Goody!"

"Ben, is that okay with you?" Goody asked.

Ben placed a paw on his wife's arm. "Of course it is; the poor critter is parentless, it's the right thing to do. So what are we gonna name him?"

Goody rubbed the baby mouse between his ears. "I was thinking of 'Lucky,' because he is very lucky to be alive."

"Lucky. I like it. Lucky it is, then."

"That's a perfect name. Now then, I think we should get to treating that scar you told me he has," Bella mentioned.

Both hedgehogs nodded, then went to work laying the mousebabe on a table. They had to restrain him as he cried and struggled, confused as to what they were doing to him and not liking it. Bella inspected the wound, then without a word went to get her medical supplies.

"It's okay, Lucky, we are only trying to help you," Goody comforted.

"Bella's just gonna put some medicine on your boo-boo to make the hurt go away and heal it," Ben added.

The mousebabe calmed down and looked up at the hedgehogs. Their voices were reassuring.

The badger came back with her supplies. She grabbed a herb out of the bag. "Relax, little one. Now then, this is gonna sting a bit..."

Bella applied the herb onto the mousebabe's throat. He started to struggle again, crying out loud from the stinging caused by the medicine. All three adults tried to calm him.

"Lucky, it's okay, relax baby!"

"I know it hurts, Lucky, but it'll go away quickly!"

"We're only trying to help you, Lucky! It's okay, it's okay!"

The mousebabe would not calm down. They had no choice but to continue restraining him as the herbs were applied onto the injury.

Right after the treatment was done, the two hedgehogs immediately released the frightened mousebabe. He scrambled onto his paws and rushed around on the table, trying to find a way off of it. Unable to find a way to escape, he backed onto the middle of the table and just sat there, looking back and forth between the hedgehogs and the badger.

Bella spotted a female red squirrel as she put her medical supplies away. "Ah, Lady Amber! Nice to see you!"

"Good day, Bella, Goody, Ben!" Amber greeted." She spotted the mousebabe. "Oh, hello there!"

The mousebabe crouched down in fear. Amber gently picked him up as he tried to scratch her. "It's all right, I will not cause you any harm." Supporting his bottom with one paw, she stroked his back with the other as he calmed down and leaned against her chest. "There, there, you are going to be okay."

"Wow Amber, I never knew that you were this good with kids," Ben semi-humorously stated.

Amber was not amused. "Really? What, do you think I'm mean to young ones or something? I may be the Squirrel Queen, but that does not mean that I'm overly harsh!"

"Chill Amber, I know that. I was just kidding!"

"I thought so." The squirrel's attention went back to the mousebabe she was holding. "So who is this little cutie-pie?"

"That is Lucky," Goody answered. "I rescued him."

"Aww, how nice of you, Goody. Hey, where are you going?" Amber caught the mousebabe as he attempted to climb over her shoulder. She noticed something written on the back of his cloth diaper. Holding the mousebabe up and turning him around, she inspected it.

Bella was confused. She approached her friend. "Amber, why are you looking at his-"

"It says something on it. It's small and kinda hard to read. See, right here, on the top." Amber pointed to where the word was written. "I can't make head or tails of it; it reads 'Gonoff' or something like that. What does it mean, Bella?"

The badger read the word as the mousebabe nervously looked back and forth. "Oh, I see Amber. It says 'Gonff.' That must be his name."

"Gonff," Goody repeated the strange-sounding word as she retrieved her adopted baby from Amber.

"What kind of name is that?" Ben asked.

"I don't know, but his parents must of named him that for a reason. I think it's cute; it sounds mischievous."

"That it does. Well then, seeing as that's what his parents called him, I think it only be proper that we call him by this name too, regardless of how odd it is."

Goody nodded. "I couldn't agree more."

"So his name's not Lucky anymore?" Bella and Amber asked.

"Nope; it never was. His name was, is and always shall be Gonff. My little Gonff."

Gonff yawned, then fell asleep as everybeast continued to adore him. None of them knew that he would grow up to become the Prince of Thieves.

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**Red Velvet Fox: Thanks for understanding everything that I've been explaining to you in the A/N's and PM's! I really appreciate it!**

**Thomas the Traveler: I too have hoped that somebody had written a story about this, but when I realized that nobody did I decided to take the liberty to write it myself! As for the number of siblings and the justifications for it, I just explained all that stuff in my profile bio (cause I don't want to keep explaining it over and over again), so hopefully that clarifies things a bit!**

**King's Critic: I did not go into details over the characters (besides mentioning their species) because I kinda expected everybody to know who they are, since they are from the book. I am very well aware that each individual character is unique and does not always fit their species' general descriptions; animals are like that in real life too. If I have the time to I'll go back and see what I can do with adding more details on character description (though I kinda fail at this in general, XD). Oh yes, and this is supposed to be a short, somewhat fast-paced story.**

**Wiechcheu1925: You are right, and I cannot believe that I did not think of that earlier. Thanks for pointing it out! I added a few scenes to address your point.**


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